


Yokai Can't Help Here

by Lacklusterswirl



Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Arguing, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, I added a sex scene, I might add/remove tags as I write, Light Angst, M/M, Mission Gone Wrong, Rating May Change, Romance, Small Crime?, Third person following Echo mostly, Threats of Violence, criminals, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-10-23 10:16:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17681540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacklusterswirl/pseuds/Lacklusterswirl
Summary: Echo has always been more focused on creating, maintaining, and improving his robots. It's the reason why he started his career, and what he's now known for. A single track mind, if you will. Now he has another option. He just doesn't know how to handle it.





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> My friend affectionately thinks that Echo's both cute and an asshole. And so here I am, indulging them in an Echo fic.

“You look like Scheiße, Echo.”

“Working on your Bandit impression?” Echo retorted, not sparing a glance at Jäger.

He had been working on his drone since – well, not working per se. Echo was kind of distracted, if his twitching fingers were any indication. Normally, they’d be fiddling away with his Yokai drones.

Jäger took a seat at his own workbench, but proceeded to stare at his fellow operator – much to the annoyance of said operator. Finally, Echo slumped down in his chair, defeated by seemingly nothing.

“Shall I call Hibana?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to look at your drone? Perhaps I could-”

“No.”

Echo gathered up his items and left the workshop.

.

Seems like the engineer was smarter than he seemed. Moments after Echo collapsed on his bed, a knock came at his door.

“Enatsu,” came the soft voice that could only be Hibana. “Jäger was saying that you were being rude and moody again.”

“Unless you compliment him, he sees everything as rude. I don’t know how to, _and_ I don’t want to deal with him.”

“Masaru… What’s going on?” The creak of the door told him that she had entered his room. “You’ve never just done… nothing before.”

“Nothing… Just…” The lights flickered on and he had to quickly shield his eyes from the harsh light. He sat up in his bed to face Hibana. “Do I look lonely?”

That got her to pause her mindless cleaning. She always hated his messy desk. “Well, I was going to ask if you were sick. That’s a strange way of putting it… _Are_ you feeling lonely?”

“Yes.”

“…What’s caused this change? Did you meet someone?”

“Yes.”

There was a silence where Echo was expecting Hibana to say something in response.

“ _I’m_ waiting for a response.”

Oh. Well, he didn’t know how to start, or where for that matter. So he sat there like a sputtering idiot while trying to tell his story to his friend.

“I- well… It’s kind of rushed but, well…”

“You’re very flustered,” Hibana commented.

He shot her a glare. “I can see that thank you very much.”

“Take a breath. Did you see something or someone?”

“I met someone. Well, more like they met me – but same thing, right?”

“Alright let’s start slow. When?”

.

It was a regular pub night… for most people. For Echo, it was different because it was the first pub crawl he willingly joined at Rainbow. Yumiko didn’t need to remind him, Dokkaebi didn’t need to pound at his door, and Ying didn’t need to chastise him for being lazy. He was just fine getting himself “out there”.

At least until that one bar. Because the moment he walked in, he watched as a well-dressed individual sweep a pool game. And it was just misfortune, or timing, really, that caused the stranger to look up at the group that just entered. Echo was the only one who stared back though, and he was rewarded a blinding smile that made him feel… dreadful.

Perhaps he should’ve asked Yumiko to prepare him something more stylish to wear no matter what kind of a challenge that would be. Because when all you owned were white t-shirts, various blue hoodies, and sweatpants… well, it was hard to work with.

Still, he watched as the stranger made a bet with Bandit and started another game of pool. It was more even than the previous game until the stranger managed to sink four in a row, before missing the eight ball. Bandit even raised his eyebrows at that feat, since he was now faced with two very difficult options. It didn’t surprise Echo when Bandit failed to get a ball in _and_ manage to set up a very easy finish for the stranger. Their long coat swished around their frame as they finished up the game. Watching Bandit hand over the money was strangely satisfying, even if that meant that he’d be in a worse mood when they got back.

Still, there was nothing much to do, so he sipped at his drink while taping mindlessly at some random phone game Dokkaebi made him download.

“Hey there.”

Oh no. Nonono. This was not what he signed up for.

“You often go out just to stare at your phone?”

Hesitantly, Echo lifted his gaze to look at the shining pair that stared back, a little too close for normal conversation. In fact, when they laughed at his surprised face, he could feel a light breath from their lips.

“I- I… Uh… Yes?”

They backed off, still chuckling. With a magical wave of their hand, the bartender seemed to know exactly what they wanted to drink, and soon, a pint of beer was set in front of the stranger.

“Pity, and here I was assuming you’d be a better pool player than your German friend.”

Echo couldn’t help but just be completely entranced by how smooth they were. It was like they knew how he would respond to everything that came out of their mouth.

“I… I don’t know how to play, actually…”

They turned to face him again. “Really? Not at all?”

“Uh, no. I didn’t have time throughout school…” And enlisting, he added silently.

“…I’m sorry, but just to make this clear, you’ve graduated, right? I’m not hitting on a minor, am I?”

“No! Uh- I mean no, I’m… It’s been many years since I’ve graduated. Well-” he caught the raised eyebrows of the stranger. “I mean that… Look, I’m thirty-eight, ok?”

“Alright, Loud and clear, aren’t ya?”

That only made Echo’s cheeks heat up _more_ that they were currently. “Well, you’re not shy at all, are you?”

“You’re right, I’m not. I’m your average middle-aged stranger who – with enough alcohol – can approach the cutest guy in the room to try my luck.”

Did… did they just say that? Echo looked away and tried to create a little distance between them. They were lazily smiling back, clearly waiting for a response. Which also happened to be what rendered Echo incapacitated. “Uh, I… I gotta go.”

The smile faded, and replaced by a smaller one that Echo had no trouble reading. “Oh, of course… Have a good night then.”

“Yeah. You too,” he whispered, leaving the stranger alone at the bar.

.

“Oh, so you didn’t talk with them or anything?”

“No.” Echo collapsed back on his bed again.

Hibana sighed and took a seat at his desk. “Are you really that hopeless?”

“No.”

“Did you go back to them?”

Echo thought for a bit. Tell her, or not… “Yeah, I did.”

.

Echo spent as much time in the washroom as he could without feeling too awkward about it. Once he got out, he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to learn more about the stranger, who, as predictable as someone could be, was back at the pool table playing against Smoke this time. Echo watched from the side, out of sight, and saw an impressive victory once again. The Rainbow ops dispersed for a bit as if to decide on who should face this pool champion next.

“Can you teach me?”

The stranger whirled around with wide eyes.

“Um… Sure.” They were frozen in place and then added, “Do you always walk so quietly?”

“Yes.”

“…Ok, well, why don’t you play against me first? Grab a cue.”

When Echo staid in his spot, the stranger grabbed on off the wall for him. “This,” Echo took the stick from his hands, “is a pool cue.”

“The first ball, depending on solid or stripes, determines which ‘side’ your on. Getting the eight-ball in is automatically a loss, unless you’ve finished with yours. Otherwise, avoid getting a white ball in cause then it becomes the opponents turn, and they get to place it anywhere on the table they would like. Also, don’t hit the opponents balls with the white ball unless you’ve already touched one of yours. That also counts as a foul.”

They paused to check in Echo who had been nodding along. “It’s mostly physics based then, right?”

“Yeah. Angles, momentum, the works.”

“I’m pretty good at maths, you know,” Echo told them.

They chuckled, continuing to set up. “I won’t argue that cause you’re probably better than me.”

They set the white ball down and motioned for Echo to come over to them. “Try holding the farther end of the stick between two fingers. The other hand should be back a little just to get good power.”

Damn it was hard to concentrate. Not while they were standing so close, breath tickling his ear, and hand over his right one.

“That’s it… Line it up. The first one should be quite fast since you want to spread out the triangle.”

Thankfully, they removed themselves from his personal space and took a seat on a nearby stool to watch him. The tip of the cue was lined up right in the middle of the white ball. Echo drew his right hand back and quickly pushed the cue forward. He missed. The white ball didn’t move, and his cue was embarrassingly hovering to the side of where he had lined it up.

“I… but I- I lined it up!” he protested the laughter coming from the stranger. They hopped off their stool and patted Echo on the shoulder.

“Keep the cue forward only when you push. Otherwise, it’ll slip in a different direction. Here, I’ll help you.”

Echo was not prepared. Not for the cool hands that slid over his, nor the warm body pressed against him, nor the breath next to his ear, and definitely not how his hips were pressed up against their hips. They didn’t seem to notice any of that.

“Here, squeeze a little harder…” he pressed Echo’s left fingers into a small, scissor-shape. “Now you want to keep the angle like this, so don’t let up. Draw the other hand back, and…”

When their right hand released, Echo slid the cue forward and the white ball made a satisfying sound as it spread apart the other balls. He turned to smile at the stranger only for them to point at the table. Echo watched as the solid blue ball crept closer, and closer, and…

Damn.

“There you go, so now you can only hit solid balls.” Echo surveyed the scene in front of him, and noticed how the stranger beckoned him over. “Try this angle, you see how it’s slightly to the side of the hole? Well, you’re a maths guy, actually, you know what I’m talking about.”

Right. So he had to hit the side of the ball. He tried to replicate how his gripped he cue previously, but accidentally brushed against another ball. “Sorry,” he mumbled, reaching out to fix the ball.

“Don’t worry about it. Take your shot first.”

This time, he managed to knock it forward – just in a completely different direction than what he originally wanted.

The stranger then walked up to the table to survey their options. They finally took a position in front of where Echo was watching and leaned down. No matter how interesting the game was, Echo found himself occasionally glancing down to where their jeans were pressed nicely against their… Ah shit.

And just like that, he was blushing again, and didn’t notice how their shot managed to knock two of their own balls in. They had a curious look on their face when they turned to look at him again, though.

“No need to feel embarrassed, we all started out at your skill level.”

“Oi!” Two other people Echo didn’t recognize walked up to the stranger. “You wanna play some doubles?”

“Oh, I’ll leave-”

“Sure.” They looked at Echo and shrugged. “Can’t get better until you practice, right?”

“You’re gonna lose though…”

They scoffed. “Like I care about that. It’s a game after all.” As Echo opened his mouth to protest, they leaned in again to whisper into his ear. “Plus, it lets me stare at your butt for a bit longer. I assume you want to do the same to me?”

“Uh- I… I mean… I wasn’t…”

“I take it as a compliment. Don’t worry about me.”

“I really wasn’t” – Echo paused as they raised their stupid eyebrows, and fuck… Why did they look so much better than his? “Alright fine, just don’t laugh too hard at me.”

“My dude, you look like you could beat me up with one hand tied behind your back, _and_ with your eyes closed.”

They went first, already sinking a striped ball in. They then leaned back to look at the entire table before choosing their target. While they sunk ball after ball, Echo _did_ in fact stare at them the entire time. They managed a few in a row before missing their shot by mere millimetres.

While waiting for the other team to make a move, the stranger leaned up against Echo to whisper, “You know, I never did get your name. Mine’s (y/n).”

“Uh… You can call me Echo.” They raised their damn eyebrows again. “It’s the name my friends gave me.”

“Cause you repeat everything you just said?”

“Nooo… I-“

“Oi, Lovebirds, your go.”

“Good luck,” (y/n) smirked.

Echo took a couple deep breaths. He has taken out entire teams in his training by himself, so this little _game_ shouldn’t be that hard.

But oh, how wrong he was. His first hit nudged it forward by a few centimetres, and it looked like he rubbed the ball instead of hitting it. Luckily, the other team let him try again. Not like it really helped. Because on his second try, he actually hit in the other team’s ball into one of the holes, and oh boy, he really didn’t want to see…

(y/n) wasn’t laughing, but just had a coy smile as Echo awkwardly joined them at the side again.

“You know, if you-”

“I don’t want to hear it. Just make it stop.”

“Your wish is my command,” they chuckled.

.

“I want to meet them now. Who is _that_ good at pool?”

Echo groaned into his pillow. “No one! They’re just… Let me tell you about what happened after I went to their place-”

“You did what?”

.

“So, what kind of a job do you have?” Echo asked, staring at the nicely decorated room.

“Nothing all that special, I’m an accountant. How about you?” Right, probably shouldn’t have asked about that.

 “You said you weren’t good at maths?”

“Ah, not really,” they smirked, hanging up their coat. Echo handed them his own, and followed them into the flat. “I said you were probably better than me at maths, but I never said I was _bad_.”

Echo quietly waited to be told what to do next.

“So, Echo, how do you want this night to go?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, how I see it,” they leaned in close enough for Echo to smell the alcohol on their breath and _feel_ the smile. “You want to fuck me, and we’re going to walk away as single people again in the morning, or we’re gonna have a couple more drinks and get to know each other better. If we work well together, maybe you'll ask me out.”

“And why not both?”

They drew back and frowned. “Most people have a date before straight up fucking, you know?”

Echo frowned. He too, had drank copious amounts of alcohol while watching (y/n) play operator after operator. “Isn’t there another way of saying… Fucking?”

He pressed himself back against (y/n), making sure to grind his hips into theirs.

“What,” they laughed, pulling away again. “Love making? Intercourse? Have sex?”

“Well, that first one sounded pretty good.”

They shook their head with a sad smile, “Please, it takes a lot more than a single date to get me to that level.”

“I’m different,” he insisted, dragging them towards what he assumed was the bedroom.

“Yeah, cause fucking me in my bathroom is so much better?”

He froze. “Where’s your bedroom?”

.

“Let’s just say they thought I was drunk, so he sent me back here in a cab with his number.”

“And where is his number now?”

“Taped to Yokai. I was worried I’d lose it…”

Hibana sighed and left the room. Minutes later, both her and IQ walked back in with a Yokai in their hands.

Echo sat up and motioned for the drone.

“And what’s the magic word?”

He frowned. “I want to get laid?”

“Fair.” IQ tossed the drone at him and he scrambled to catch his baby.

“Thank you!” he called out after her. Yumiko rolled her eyes and left him alone as well.

_Hey…_

Echo barely put down his phone when the response came.

_How is it that you manage to sound awkward even over text?_

_On a side note, I’m free all day tomorrow if you want to meet up tonight? ;)_

Oh god, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into.


	2. First date (ish?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a longer sex scene here. It's kinda explicit. Otherwise, Echo's getting less awkward? He's pretty ok at this point in the story in terms of that (If anything I wrote him as too awkward in the first chapter)

“You really don’t own anything else, do you?” they smirked.

Yeah, this was a problem. While Echo was in a slight variation of his combat uniform, sans all the actual battle gear, (y/n) was dressed up from the last time they met. Their collared shirt perfectly framed their figure and brought all the attention to their eyes. It helped that they were close to his height too, and…

Right.

“I didn’t know what to expect.” Echo thought that they wanted to go to someplace casual so that they didn’t feel too bad about not calling him back after tonight. “I assumed, you know, that we were just gonna… not… this…” Nope he was in the wrong, and definitely should’ve asked Hibana for help before sneaking out of base. But if anyone knew where he was going, he’d never live it down.

“Well, unfortunately, they’re kinda uptight about their dress code. So… uh… Well there goes my plan – and do you really not own anything… Business related? What do you do for a living again?”

“I’m an engineer.”

“Right, and I guess that this is what you wear to work everyday?”

“…yes…”

“New plan, I give away this reservation to my friend, and we go shopping for clothes. Afterwards, we can order something in while we chill on my couch with a movie.”

Their place… That sparked a few thoughts that Echo chased away right away, just not fast enough.

They leaned in and whispered, “I know what you’re thinking of, and I’ll leave it up to you.”

Just then, their phone began to buzz, and Echo awkwardly pulled his own out while trying not to shiver against the cold December air. He listened in as (y/n) handled something to do with work while simultaneously trying to pawn off the reservation. Just as he was about to head into the next-door shop to warm up, (y/n) reached out for his hand and led him to the side of the street.

.

From the corner of his eye, Echo saw (y/n) place their box of takeout on the coffee table, eyes still glued to the tv screen. They were sitting next to each other while watching something or other they had put on.

“I still can’t believe you thought I was Chinese.”

“Look,” they were smiling, though Echo liked to think that they were also blushing as they were when they first ran into the misunderstanding. “I made an educated guess, and I was wrong, I’ll admit it.”

“You could’ve just asked,” he chuckled, leaning in a little. They were still stubbornly staring at the screen, and he wanted to change that.

Granted, when he thought that, he was originally planning to place a soft kiss on their cheek.     He wasn’t planning on having them turn and instead place his lips on theirs. Still, not a bad twist. Especially since they kissed back with ten times more enthusiasm than he held for life in general. He slowly let one hand move to the back of their head and feel the hair tangle around his fingers. The other hand moved to cup their chin – to keep them looking up at him.

At some point, they jerked back to check in with him. “Wait, are you sure you-”

Echo nodded his head, quickly resuming the kiss. He kept pushing forward, wanting more, but only ended up pushing (y/n) to the ground. While he checked up on them, he accidently pushed against one of the boxes, leaving a small oil stain on his sweats. This wouldn’t do.

“I’ll be right back,” he murmured with a quick kiss to their forehead.

“Just leave them on the kitchen counter. I’ll deal with them later.”

He nodded, knowing they couldn’t actually see him. When he walked back to the couch, (y/n) was staring at the tv screen again. Instead of interrupting them, he leaned against the wall to stare at the back of their head. For once, it really did seem like they were relaxed. Not worried about whatever work issue was most recently bothering them, nor anxious about some spontaneous plan that had interrupted their well laid out ideas – they were really… just… calm. At least until the screen faded to black and they made eye contact through the screen.

“Something wrong?” They managed a small smile. He walked closer to them again and leaned in, just to watch them yawn.

He shook his head. “No. Are you tired?” His hands rested on their shoulders while he leaned again, hoping to keep going from where they left off.

They giggled, and his heart froze and… This was not part of his plan. All he wanted to do was get laid, maybe have a few drinks. He didn’t want to actually _like_ them.

“Come here, I don’t want to stand,” they pulled on his hoodie so that their faces were level.

“Are you chewing gum?” he asked, already smelling the mint on their breath.

They smirked, “Yeah, you want some?”

“Of course,” he murmured, pressing his hands against theirs, and leaning in to push his tongue between their lips. He fished around a bit before pulling away, victorious.

“I could’ve just given you a new piece.”

“I saw this in a movie once, and I wanted to try it.”

“Nerd.”

Echo kept his innocent smile on while they glared at him and marched off to somewhere in the flat. The moment they turned their back on him, he spat out the gum into the nearest trash can. He never could stand the stuff.

He was still standing when they returned, and instead of joining him, they sat back down, and kneeled on the couch to face him. The dimmer lighting really did wonders to the light in their eyes, and… he had to stop.

“You wasted gum.”

“And how would you like to punish me then?” Wait.

Their eyebrows raised and before they could even get a word in, he quickly kissed them again, messy and disorganized, yet still better than his other fate. To keep them preoccupied, Echo moved his kisses down from their lips and to their jaw where he traced the bone with his lips. They weren’t completely defenseless. Their hands moved to his back where they just did this- _damn._

The moan that left his mouth was completely unintentional.

“Are you seriously-”

“Yes.” He tried to lean forward into the affectionate petting and almost didn’t realize that he was falling.

(y/n) swore and grabbed fistfuls of his hoodie to slow his fall, and he used his arms to plant against the wooden floor. This was not planned. They were still holding onto his hips while his legs were still on the couch cushions. One by one, he brought his legs down so that he was now lying on the hard ground.

“You plan on joining me up here anytime soon?”

He blushed and tried to hide underneath his arm, but no, he couldn’t even have that decency. The quiet chuckling by his ear did nothing to prepare him for the weight on his chest. His bottom lip slipped between his teeth as he stopped to look at the person sitting on him.

“Not gonna lie, I assumed you had those squishy muscles that are more fat than anything else. But damn dude, I’m surprised you didn’t actually beat me up for calling you nerd too many times over text.”

“I… Look, I… Can we please not talk about the fall again?”

Their smile widened, and they leaned down to peck him on the nose.

“As long as you never bring up my mix up again, ok?”

He eagerly nodded and tried to push up for a kiss, only for their hands to keep him on the ground. B Honestly, as long as he got what he came for, he couldn’t care how it happened. Well, it’d be great if he didn’t fall for (y/n) in the meantime physically or metaphorically, thank you very much.

“Fine, just… take off your shirt,” Echo tugged on the hem, and they let him pull it over their head. They returned the favour by helping him stay upright while he took off his own clothes.

As he carefully tossed their shirts onto the couch, (y/n) had already leaned down to place light, closed-lipped kisses on his collarbone. To guide them to where he really wanted their mouth, he rolled his head back, exposing his neck, and pushing their mouth to- yep. They got it. And the feeling of the warm lips and tongue sucking and licking his neck as he… _Oh._ Their fingers brushed over his pecs, getting ever closer to his nipples. He writhed underneath them, both trying to get more contact while somehow simultaneously trying to move away from the touches.

“Shit, you move a lot.”

“Sorry,” he whispered, shifting again before giving up as they gave a light lick to his chest. As he watched through lidded eyes, they gently sucked on his nipples, making sure to graze their teeth against them while their hands filled with handfuls of his warm body. The sucking was good – great even – and he could feel his cock start to strain against his pants with every new thing they did to him, but he kept wanting more.

“Would you stop-” They didn’t get to finish the sentence as Echo jerked his hips up, trying to grind against them. The sudden motion knocked them forward, and they nearly fell over.  He propped himself up on his arms and adjusted them so they could sit right over his crotch, and hummed appreciatively as they pressed down on his cock.

He tried to focus on the warmth above him, but it was hard to ignore the cool floor beneath. “Where’s your bedroom?” he growled, finally having enough.

(y/n) was pressed up against him, grinding on his hips and sucking on his lips, but managed to point in the general direction anyways. Echo didn’t have any problems just lifting them up so they could wrap their legs around him. He was the laziest operator, sure, but still an operator.

On their way to the bed, Echo swallowed every lewd sound that came out of their mouths. Once on the bed, he sat first, letting them push him onto his back before continuing the sweet torture on his nipples. With every hard suck, he had to supress his hips from bucking up again. They were doing their best to take off his sweats, but his squirming was making it incredibly difficult. Finally, they had enough and sat up, giving him a light slap.

“You take off your pants then, if you don’t want me to do it.”

With a scoff, he flipped their position so he was on top. Now, free of the weight on top of him, he could rid himself of his pants while returning the favour to (y/n). They squirmed almost as viciously as he had when he first tried to lick and suck on their chest. It all stopped when he pressed his bare cock against them.

“Echo…” they whispered, tugging on his hair.

It was ambiguous, so Echo met their lips with his, to see if that’s what they wanted.

“Just… Fuck! I need you in me, now… please…”

Begging? That got him thinking. No matter what, he couldn’t exactly just thrust into them, they still needed to be prepped a little more…

“Get on your stomach,” he demanded, pulling them to the edge of the bed while slipping off to kneel in front of them. They whined, but complied all the same.

He pulled their hips up while pushing their shoulders down to arch their back. “Echo, please don’t-”

“Unless you want this to be the most painful sex you’ve ever had, follow my lead,” he interrupted them with a quick nibble on their inner thigh. “Don’t come though. I’ll be entering regardless.”

A whimper was the only reply, and he started the next part. First, he wanted to test them. Echo licked a broad stroke over their hole and bit their butt lightly when they tried to pull away. Interesting. So he kept his arms around their legs, not letting them move at all as he did it again.

“Echo…”

He smiled. His own cock leaked a little more with every call of his name. Still, that didn’t stop him from repeating the motion over and over again until he heard nothing. Peeking around their legs, he saw that their face was completely pressed into the mattress and only the quietest of moans could be heard. Time to up the ante. He let the tip of his tongue slip in, just the tiniest sliver, and they trembled under his touch.

“Please… Just…” they groaned every time his tongue scooped in. “Echo…”

Now for the main event… He pressed his face completely up against their ass and slowly pushed his entire tongue in. Everyone has one spot that would make they completely breakdown, and Echo took his time to find (y/n)’s. When he did, he could feel their hands reaching for any part of him they could reach, but falling a little short, unable to affect his actions in any way. He let himself get lost in just tasting them, letting his eyes fall closed, and twisting his tongue this way and that. Their calls got quieter and quieter as he continued his revenge for all the teasing he had endured to get to this point.

His cock was now twitching on its own, trying to feel any of the same joy (y/n) was feeling currently. Almost there. Instead of thrusting his tongue in and out, he let it rub against their sweet spot, dragging a choked sob out of their partner’s throat.

“Echo – holy shit – please… I’m gonna come, I’m gonna-” Echo pulled back letting them whine and grind their ass into air. “Please… I… Fuck!”

He chuckled at their misery. Despite the whimpers and shudders from (y/n), Echo still wanted this to last. Who knew when the next time would be for him?

“Sit on me,” he commanded, lying on his back, head on the pillows, and watching, as (y/n) fumbled their way to him, eyes closed the entire time.

While he waited for them to get closer, he pulled slightly on his hot, aching flesh, enjoying the little stimulation he was receiving while watching as this person seemed to be completely incapacitated by his tongue only. They still wouldn’t get what they needed. Not yet. He laid his cock flat on his stomach, letting them sit right on top of it so it was pushed against their crotch, the entire length, and slowly rutted against them. They clenched their jaw, but Echo still wanted to _hear_ them. So, he leaned up and took one of their nipples between his teeth, licking the nub while letting them rock on his length.

“No, I can’t… I can’t…”

“Just a while longer,” he smirked, giving them a little break so they could catch their breath. When they calmed down a little, he continued where he left off, starting on the next nipple and grinding even slower, with more purpose.

“Echooo…” they complained. “Dude, I don’t want to come like this.”

“Fine then,” he smiled, raising their hips a little. “Keep it there.” While they stayed frozen, hips hovering above his leaking tip, he grabbed the condom pack he had seen poking out of their drawer. He cock jumped a little at the touch of the cooler rubber sliding over it.

“Stay still,” he whispered, placing his hands on their wait just in case.

He slowly lifted his hips up until he was buried all the way and his balls pressed against their ass. Then, he allowed them some time to adjust as needed. When they nodded their head, he gave hard, singular thrusts, each one threatening to knock them over without the support of his own hands. This way, it wasn’t slow enough to tease them, but it still let him feel every bit of the slide and… Nono…

Admittedly, it had been longer than a year since the last time he had someone other than his hand fulfill his fantasies, and a pretty long time since his last session with his hand. That’s why the warm feeling that was building up was reason enough to stop mid thrust.

“I’m gonna come soon,” he muttered. He was so close, he could feel it in his toes, but they weren’t the same, so he couldn’t come so soon. “Rock on me.”

They complied, wordlessly touching themselves while rolling their hips against his. Echo took this time to lace his fingers behind his head, watching their hopeless look. Their eyes were closed, mouth half-opened, and propped on their forearms on his chest.

“I’m… I’m coming!” they gasped, and Echo chose then to start his thrusts again, this time at a faster pace, trying to get his own happy ending.

They came first, clenching on his cock that still felt like it was about to orgasm, yet not reaching there. So he kept going, ignoring the moans of pleasure that slowly turned into whines of distress when _he wasn’t stopping._

“Echo! Fuck, I’ll help you after, but just stop – ah!”

Echo lurched upwards to bite their nipple, causing them to clench around him again, which just so happened to push him over the edge. He laid on the mattress, tongue rolling out of his mouth as he felt them fondle his balls, milking him for more.

When he had recovered, (y/n) was playing with his hair, offering him a ginger smile as they lifted off of him. Despite how good everything felt, Echo always hated cleaning up, so it was a relief when (y/n) disposed of the condom and dragged him into the shower.

It was all so incredibly platonic, Echo almost doubted that they just had sex at all. However, given that he had to go off to work the next day and had to hide any of what just happened, it was better this way.

“How the fuck did you learn any of that?” Question number one. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the question.

“Did you like it?” he asked. They rolled their eyes and gave a light flick to his chest. “I’m not _that_ lonely.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

The next big question got asked when he started to pull on his sweatpants.

“Are you leaving?”

Echo met their eyes and froze in place. Yes, he was thinking of leaving. It’d be easier and less complicated, though it would probably hurt them a little.

“I was planning to, yes.”

Silence. They looked so innocent comfortable huddled under the sheets, like they weren’t just begging him to fuck them. Looking at them huddled under the blanket made him miss _something,_ though he couldn’t quite identify what it was.

“Do you want to stay?” Number three.

He thought… Yes, would’ve been the impulsive answer, which was terrifying. Since when did he think about doing this? To be honest, he used to leave the bed to sneak off to his office and continue building his drones.

“I need to get up early. Work starts at six thirty for me, so I’d have to get up around five. I don’t want to disturb you.”

The smile he got in return amplified the guilt he felt in his heart for the excuse.

“I don’t mind.”

.

Echo woke up to an alarm he had set the night before. The first thing he realized was that he was sleeping on his side. He never slept on his side. Then he saw the body next to him. Right. (y/n) was basically using his bottom arm as a pillow, hands on his chest while his top arm held their waist close to him.

Of course that meant that when he tried to extract himself from the comfortable embrace, (y/n) woke as well.

“I have to leave.”

“Right.”

“I’ll… I’ll get going.”

“Right, yea. I mean, you still have my number if you want.”

There were unasked questions and they both knew it.

_Are you coming back? Do you want to? Do you want me again?_

“Yeah – I mean… Yeah, we’ll see,” Echo mumbled. He gathered the rest of his belongings and hurried out the door, not even looking back.


	3. Officially a Couple

It turns out that he did go back. Once, twice, eventually loosing count. There was even a week when he went back to them every day. Two and a half months in, and it became so common now, (y/n) automatically started cooking for two every night unless Echo said otherwise.

Then came his first mission since meeting them. He actually told them he’d be out on a business trip, and not to expect him for a few weeks at least. That night, he almost didn’t want to have sex with them. He would’ve preferred to sit and marathon movies with them until they fell asleep together on the couch. Not like he knew how to voice it, and when they pushed him onto the bed, he didn’t have any objections. It was just comfortable.

He learned about them, their time in their home country, and how they eventually moved to Hereford for work. He could an interest in their daily lives and sometimes looked forward to the pillow talk more than the sex itself. From and avid interest in their body and satisfying his own wants to whatever this was… it was a change alright. He didn’t even know if they realized it themselves.

“A few weeks? Does a business trip really take that long for you?”

Echo winced slightly. “It can go from a week to three months. I’m just giving you an estimate.”

“Damn. Sounds nice.”

“It sounds better than it actually is,” he replied. Because sleeping god-knows-where while hunting down and killing people was probably not on (y/n)’s mind.

.

The mission went wrong. All of it.

It started when they arrived at the rendezvous point. The people who were supposed to be waiting for them were missing, so immediately, Hibana had the team on high alert. Japan had requested for back-up on a growing White Mask operation, and it was Rumoured that a high-priority target of Rainbow’s could be found here. Their interests lined up well, so Hibana was sent to lead Echo, Thatcher, IQ, and Doc into rural Japan.

“Who was supposed to be here?” Thatcher asked over comms as they landed from the rappel.

Hibana and Echo drew their weapons, ready for action, which prompted the rest to do the same. “They were supposed to-”

“I know, Echo. Just be ready. I expect they knew we were coming.”

The camp they were supposed to rest at was completely deserted, like the SAT operators had magically disappeared with all their belongings. Or they were never there, which was almost worse. When they got in contact with Six, they learned that the SAT mission had pulled out after sustaining heavy casualties. She still assured the UN that Rainbow could handle it, so here they were.

The mission went alright, he supposed. The man they were looking for in particular left after the SAT conflict, the information they were seeking from the White Masks was burned, and the people inside were almost all evacuated.

Killing the remainders was easy.

But no one saw the flashing light oh so cleverly hidden behind the washing machine until IQ caught it on her precautionary scan.

_0:40… 0:39… 0:38…_

They sprinted out of the building, trying to get out of the building before it blew. Then Echo remembered his Yokai drones. They were just in a side room and there was time… so maybe…

“Masaru!”

He ignored Hibana’s call and sprinted towards the side room they asked him to drone out when they first entered. The room was exactly how he remembered, which meant… shit he drove it under the bed. Activating the drone would take two seconds, driving would be another two… the door was still a good five seconds away from him. So, he snatched the drone and nearly bumped into Hibana who had ran after him.

“You idiot!” She snarled, starting to back up and run back to their exit.

“Five seconds… four…” IQ’s warning sounded thought the comms. Echo stumbled at the entrance over some rubble left over from their first breaching charge.

This was it… in rescuing his drone, he doomed himself to die, trapped in rubble. And even if he didn’t die immediately, chances are that he would be trapped for days before wasting away from lack of, oxygen, food, water, or all three. He was _this_ close to squeezing his eyes shut and accepting his fate.

“You lazy-ass!” Hibana growled, yanking on his sleeve and throwing him forward with her.

He bit his lip as his head bounced on the ground outside. The warm taste of metal on his tongue was gross, and he spat it out. The factory they had tried to raid was completely collapsed to the ground, slabs of stone and bricks here and there. He was almost trapped under it. _Hibana_ was almost trapped under it because of him.

Speaking of Hibana, she tore herself away from Doc who had barely finished wrapping up the cut on her shoulder. He pulled his gaze from the rubble to her dirt caked face.

“So? Was it worth it?”

“It was my choice, you didn’t have to-”

Her hand darted out before anyone could stop her and it left a red mark on his cheek.

“No. It’s not your choice. It was _your_ _mistake_. You too stubborn, and you can’t ever admit that you’re wrong. You almost died for a stupid robot that you can rebuild – HAVE rebuilt before. I’m sorry for caring about you as a friend, and wanting you to _survive,_ my bad. Next time I’ll let you suffer your own consequences alone.”

She paused waiting to see if he would respond. If he was smart, he wouldn’t have. “Don’t call Yokai stupid.”

Hibana’s mouth dropped open for a split second before she angrily closed it and gave him a glare that she only reserved for the terrorists she faced. “Maybe you have a death wish for yourself, but I have friends, family, _a partner_ that I want to see again. Don’t speak to me again. I don’t care if you’re on your deathbed, I never want to see you again.”

Partner. What would (y/n) think if they just never heard from him again. Would they care?

.

_Hey. I’m back now. Can we talk? I have a favour to ask of you._

True to her word, Hibana dumped all his items in boxes outside the door of the SAT dorm room, and when he tried to knock on their door, she opened it up, glared, then slammed it shut in his face.

“Ok, I’m sorry. Does that fix it? It was my fault and I’m sorry you got hurt.”

No response. Most of the base had heard about what Echo did, and many of them openly treated him with hostility. Afterall, how do you drive Yumiko of all people to be this furious? While he got lost in his work, Hibana got lost in making friends, and it really showed now. Eventually, Dokkaebi and the JTF2 ops extended an offer for him to stay with one of them. Dokkaebi was good friends with both SAT operators though, so Echo thought it would be better to allow Dokkaebi to stay neutral, and accepted Buck’s invitation.

It was still strange, so now he was waiting on the couch while waiting on a response that didn’t seem to be coming. Maybe they already moved on? Assumed he was leaving for good, despite his words?

_Sorry, busy rn. I won’t be back until later. Can we talk tomorrow?_

Hibana talked about partners, someone to miss you if you don’t come back. A partner… Right. Yumiko and Jack were… dating? He never paid attention to her rambling, found it too distracting, too superficial. But the glare he got from the normally expressionless Jack made him feel… something. There would have been no one to mourn him. His parents, maybe Dokkaebi, but that was it. Ying might feel pity, maybe a few other engineers would too, but that was it.

_It’s kind of important. If I go to the bar, can you come pick me up when you’re done?_

_…ok._

.

“When did you get back?”

Echo looked up at them, and saw them visibly react to his admittedly ragged appearance. During a mission, you don’t have time to shave, and when he got back, he felt stupid shaving his stubble next to Buck and his beard.

“This morning.”

“Well, you look fucked.”

“Funny, I didn’t know you came with me,” he joked, hoping for some reaction that wasn’t outright disgust.

They smiled.

“So why are you here? You look like you’re about to drop dead.”

He flinched. Too close to the truth.

“I… well… Ok, so a friend and I got into an argument, and she may… have kicked me out.”

The smile faltered slightly before disappearing completely. “To clarify, this roommate – you two aren’t dating, are you? And this fight isn’t about me?”

“No!” his eyes widened slightly. “We’re just friends and co-workers. She’s in a different relationship, and I’m…” _with you._ But that wasn’t right.

“Alright, and you want to stay with me?” they sighed.

He looked down at his hands. Weaknesses were always harder to admit to, but this stress was ridiculous. “If you’re ok with it.”

“…Yeah, let’s get going. I’m not in the mood to drink.”

.

It was different from all the other times he had come over. There was a tension between them that wasn’t there when he was just there for sex. So, he stayed on his side of the bed when he finally laid down, making sure to face away from them. From the way they drew in their breaths, Echo could tell that they were thinking about asking him for more details, only to push it away. Instead, they climbed in bed and placed a hand on his shoulders.

“I won’t ask about the fight, but just wake me up tomorrow before you leave. I need to lock the door, and it’s the weekend so I will probably be sleeping in.”

“Sure.” With that, their hand dropped from his shoulder, and they moved away.

Someone once told him that all humans were born with the capacity to love and long for company. They were social creatures. Echo used to scoff at them. He was perfectly fine with burying his head in a book and ignoring everyone. Humans were imperfect, unlike robots and AI, so he should be looking for a way to improve instead of settling here with these flawed creatures. And somehow, by recognizing that he had flaws, he thought he erased them. He was already better than others, and so he was blessed with the opportunity to _create_ intelligence and do what normal people couldn’t.

At least that’s what he thought. Hibana was right about a few things. One, he never took responsibility for a mistake, blaming it on others, the environment, everything and everyone other than himself. As a child, his parents preached self improvement, focusing on oneself to grow and be better than those who came before. That was stupid. No one could achieve perfection, and there was no “better,” only those that tried harder. Ultimately, it was impossible to be perfect, so why bother? He’d rather focus on something that had a legitimate chance of being perfect.

Two, he had never suffered alone in his life. Because his self-destructive habit of isolating himself didn’t work when there were people like Yumiko looking out for him. They met when she was just a recruit looking to pass selection for the SAT. He had trained many recruits before, all of them completely naïve, and thinking they could be the next god on the battlefield. They were all turned away after meeting him, very few of them moving on.

.

Yumiko was going to join the legion of operators that couldn’t pass this stage of their selection. Echo was certain of it. She came to him, starry-eyed, eagerly smiling, and practically shaking from excitement. He only took two years to earn a reputation of being the lonely man, enamoured by all things abiotic, and yet still talented at shooting and general strategy. Many of the newer recruits fawned over his looks and physique, and Yumiko seemed to fall into that category, practically jumping up and down at the prospect of being paired with him. She was oblivious to the pity she was receiving from the other trainers. She admired him, and that was that.

Until he opened his mouth.

“Do you always look like a dog, or is this how they trained you to behave in the first stage?”

“Uh, sorry, what?” she asked? She was frozen and staring at him like her world completely shattered.

“Deaf too? Don’t tell me I’ll have to repeat myself in training too.”

And after that, she understood why everyone kept staring at them. However, even when he kept insulting and shunning her, Yumiko kept going back to him.

“We’re going to practice hand to hand today,” he muttered, angrily kicking the stones at his feet. He would much rather be in his workshop with his robots.

Despite his general distaste of the younger operator, her persistent questions and jovial attitude was wedging itself in his world. But he’s been doing everything to slow it down. Plus, he knew that she was good at hand to hand. Great, really, but he was taller, heavier, and had more experience, despite his unwillingness to actually train. To this point, she hadn’t won a match against him.

She started with some quick punches and kicks, trying to land something on him. While she was quicker, and packed powerful hits, Echo wasn’t new to this, and he was having no trouble just staying on defense, letting her wear herself out.

“Marasu!”

Hm? He glanced to the side as he saw one of his co-workers enter the training centre. That was all Yumiko needed to knock him on his ass with a well placed kick to the back of his knee. Once he was kneeling, she wrapped herself around him and squeezed her arms around his neck. There wasn’t much else for Echo to do, so he tapped out.

“That was cheap,” he muttered, massaging his neck slightly.

She just gave him a cheerful smile. “The bad guys won’t cut you slack, so neither will I!”

He rolled his eyes.

Ultimately his experience did come into play. It was the first time she had been deployed on a mission, and while it was under his supervision, she was tasked with her own safety. It was supposed to be routine, but quickly found some issues. And while Echo and the other experienced ops could work around it, no one expected Hibana to run off on her own to try and play hero. Had she died, she would’ve been the only one to blame. But that didn’t stop Echo from sprinting after her, able to push her to the side and getting grazed by a bullet in her place.

“Was that worth it?” he snarled after dispatching the enemies.

“But it was my choice, you could’ve just let me-”

“No. You made a mistake. You wanted to play hero and took too great a risk. You have a family that would miss you if you died, you have friends that would miss you – _I_ would miss you. Now let’s finish this mission together.”

When her supervisors asked him for an evaluation of the mission, he had a choice. He could either tell the truth and basically forever prevent her from getting promoted, or…

“She’s clever, passionate, and skilled. She would be an asset in our organization, and has the potential to lead one day.”

.

And now they were here. From mentor and pupil, to co-workers, to friends, and then to good friends. And now she refused to be in the same room as him.

Three. He _was_ lonely. The only place he was welcomed was his desk in the workshop, or his bed, and the latter was now ripped away. But if he thought more, he had a third. That was right here, next to (y/n), and yet he ruined that too by messing up the established patter. Perhaps one day, he could turn over at two in the morning and feel like he was right where he was supposed to be.

That was his last thought as he fell asleep.

When he woke up, it felt like he hadn’t slept at all. He was just as exhausted as the day before. Worse, was when he rolled over to see the other half of the bed empty. Ten in the morning… so he had slept in… by three hours. He planned to be out before they woke, and back to base to try and act like he had been there all night.

He wasn’t expecting (y/n) to be quietly humming to themselves while making breakfast. But they were, making double portions like this was something they were used to. Echo awkwardly stood there, watching.

They finally took notice of him leaning against the door frame. “You know, just standing and staring won’t win you a plate, right?”

“Then what will?” he stood up and played along. He _was_ hungry for real food – not the sad rations they get while on missions.

They shrugged. “Are you coming back here tonight?”

“No.”

They went back to cooking, though a sadder smile played on their lips. Maybe they were getting used to him too.

“You have today off, right?”

he asked.

“Yep, it’s the weekend, you know?”

He nodded. They got lost in the newest song they were obsessed with, lightly bobbing their head in time with the imaginary beat that filled the room far more than any actual tangible item. It can't be just that though. Because they didn't realize this. They didn't realized how they flinched every time the tiny oil specks landed on them, didn't notice the twitch of their lips as they caught a particularly strong whiff of onions, and the shine in their eyes when they were finally satisfied. So why does he?

He sore Hibana once told him that falling in love is like sleeping. It comes slowly at first, then all at once. This was the latter part. 

“What’s that place you brought me to on our first meeting? I was thinking of going back sometime to see what I missed out on.”

“Well, it’s impossibly hard to get a reservation there unless you have connections, but I can arrange one for you if you want to go.”

“No, no, if it’s that hard, then I’d rather not wait. What are other first date activities you enjoy?”

He studied their frown as they thought. “I like escape rooms? Like, getting locked in a room and solving puzzles to escape? I can send you a few places if you want to take your partner there.”

“Wait,” Echo looked up from his phone. “Who am I bringing?”

“Your, uh, date?”

“I’m trying to bring you,” he laughed. “Who else?”

“Your date?” They repeated, leaning away to check up on the food. “As far as I understood, we were just here for… sex.”

“We-well… Do you want to stay like we are now? Because I’m ok with it – more than ok, it’s just I-”

They placed a kiss on his lips to shut him up and reassure him at the same time.

“No, I’d like that a lot.”


	4. Meeting Rainbow

“And I don’t know, I know it’s stupid to call you about something like this, but I’m just a little rattled I guess.”

“If something was strange enough to scare _you,_ I think it needs further examination,” Echo replied. The tools in his hands were forgotten, as was the defective drone in front of him, and the stares of the operators around him. “If you would like, I could drop by tonight?”

“That would be great. Thanks again for listening, and not calling me paranoid.”

He couldn’t stop the smile the tugged on his lips. “Actually, why don’t you come visit my workplace today? It’ll get you out of the house, and you can finally see what I do.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’ll send you the address later, just go get ready, ok?”

When he finally hung up, he looked up to see Jäger staring at him. The others at least had the decency to look away. Only the German was caught.

“Who was that?”

He should’ve known better than to assume that they wouldn’t pay attention though. “My partner.”

“Are they coming today?” Twitch asked with a glint in her eyes.

“Yes.” Echo narrowed his eyes. “No. I’m not bringing them here for you to talk to them.”

She pouted slightly. “Why not?”

“Yeah, I mean, everyone will know the moment it’s announced that a stranger has arrived,” Bandit replied, blearily waking from his sleep, just in time to join in this unfortunate conversation.

Echo did his best to ignore them and focus on the drone in front of him. He had a suspicion that it was to do with the fall it had after Thatcher unknowingly disabled it yesterday. However, the specifics were out of grasp.

 “Would you like a second pair of eyes?” Jäger asked. While Echo was distracted by his drone, both Twitch and Jäger managed to walk over to his table, something they knew he didn’t like.

“You know what? Sure. Yokai fell from the ceiling in yesterday’s simulation and hasn’t been able to climb stairs since. It can no longer balance itself out.”

By the time he had completed (y/n)’s clearance, printed the ID card, and left a hesitant note for Yumiko, as well as Buck, since he planed on showing them where he slept most nights, the four engineers, now plus Mute and Fuze, couldn’t give him an answer.

“All other functions are normal?”

“It can still attach to the ceiling, it can emit the ultrasound blast, and it can still drive on flat ground.”

“And what about rubble?”

“Slow to start, but fine once it gets going. It’s just stairs.”

“And the camera feed still works?”

“Yes, and I have also taken it apart to rebuild it.”

“We did too,” Mute mused.

“Perhaps the wires are just fraying?” Bandit quipped from where he sat at Jäger’s desk. All engineers glared at him and went back to their discussion.

“Then, I don’t know what’s wrong!” Twitch threw her hands into the air, since she was now just as frustrated Echo had been before watching his coworkers struggle as he did.

“So, what, are you going to recycle it?” Fuze asked, eyeing the wires.

“No.” Echo shot back quickly, causing the larger man to frown and walk back to his own desk. But what to do…

His phone buzzed, letting him know that (y/n) was here. To make sure that no prying hands touched his drone again, he locked up his station and left without explaining where he was going to. It’s not like they didn’t already know. Maybe Jäger didn’t.

.

“Echo?” They asked, clearly confused by the British soldiers guarding their car.

“They’re with me,” he clarified, handing them a visitor’s badge. With that, (y/n) left their keys with the soldier and cautiously made their way over to him.

As their car was being driven away, they couldn’t help but look at the security and ask, “Echo, why does an engineering firm need this level of security.”

“My full name is Masaru Enatsu. My friends call me Echo, but those closer to me would call me Masaru.”

They tensed, though they didn’t mention anything.

“Anyways, _I_ am an engineer, but I’m also a soldier – an operator we call them. We handle international issues.”

“Your business trips?”

“Yes.”

“Explains why you’re so lazy yet fit as hell.”

“You’re just pissed that I got more attention than you did when we went to the gym together.”

“I didn’t have to do fifty chin-ups for what I assume your training was.”

“I didn’t either.” They gave him an incredulous look. “I think the bare minimum was at least a hundred if I remember correctly.”

They gave him a playful slap but walked along with him anyways. “Yeah, explains how you dominated at laser tag. I _knew_ no normal person gets that high of an accuracy score.”

He chuckled until he saw the training schedule set up for that afternoon.

“Hey, that’s you, right?” They pointed at his callsign. “You’re on a lot of different teams.”

He just looked at the different scenarios. That in itself wasn’t too bad, he had back up drones too, so the one in the workshop wouldn’t need to try-

“Didn’t you say that you have no security cameras in your flat?”

“Yeah, I told you I was considering getting one of those cameras built into a teddy bear or something.”

“I have something better.”

Their flat was just one story, so there would be reason to go up or down stairs, it could camouflage, and should one of the rowdier street thugs actually try and steal something, (y/n) could fight back. Plus that would mean that Echo could get a feed of their flat as well, and-

First, his training.

.

There were so many forms (y/n) still had to sign that Echo still swore he could see the paragraphs of black ink, even as he stared at the snowy landscape of the chateau on the spectator screens.

“What are they doing?”

“The defenders have to set up their walls and such to prevent the attackers from reaching the objective room. The attackers are trying to get information through the drones, like where the traps are.” He gestured to Frost, laying down a welcome mat by the door. “And just finding where the objective is in general.”

They watched in awe as the Buck gracefully entered the second-floor window from rappelling, and even taking down an unsuspecting Jäger, who swore as he got kicked back.

The vest showed he was out, so Buck crept forward, skeleton key in hand, and ready to take down anyone. But then (y/n) noticed Cav’s camera catch sight of the Canadian. She crept up and knocked him out with a well-placed slash from her knife.

“Cav! Cav!”

Hibana peeked through the window in time to save him from the interrogation, and helped him up. The two met up with Ying on the second floor above the bar. Jackal had gotten picked off when he went on to hunt down Rook, and Maverick got shot from one of his own blowtorch holes.

Together, the three made their way down to the outer wall of the bar. Hibana shot out her pellets while Ying blinded those inside. Buck continued to watch their flanks until the X-Kairos melted through the reinforcements before switching targets and getting a good shot off onto Rook’s head. Ying took out the blinded Bandit, and the three stormed inside and fanned out, realizing that Frost was nowhere to be seen.

“Tabarnak!” Buck screamed as he backed up into one of her traps.

“Hold on, I got you!” Ying muttered this time. Frost peeked from above to take out her CTU partner, and then dropped down hatch just as Hibana planted the defuser. Ying and Frost shot at each other, with Ying getting eliminated and Frost getting left with a tiny amount of health.

Frost knew Hibana was there, and Echo could hear (y/n) gasp as the two women came face to face and Frost’s headshot landed at the same time as Hibana’s body shot. The attackers won. The puzzled face on (y/n) prompted Echo to lean over and explain that the defuser was already planted, and now no one was alive to disable it. As such, the attackers were the winners.

“That’s intense,” they murmured. “Can you actually see the place with those training simulations?”

“Yes. You can also feel anything you get injured by. It was a strange feeling the first time Hibana and I trained with them, since in one moment, I could feel the knife in me, and the next, I was fine.”

They shuddered as Echo just chuckled. “Just gives you incentive not to die.”

They nodded. “So, is it your turn now?”

He nodded, and quickly pecked them on the cheek before walking out the door. Just as he stepped out of the spectator room, Hibana and Ying walked towards it. He froze, as did they.

“I hear you’ve brought your newest partner to base.” Hibana never did have a shaky tone. All it did was unnerve him more.

Think. He unconsciously closed his eyes just to open them and see the two women staring him down still. “Please. They’re a great person and I’m begging you not to chase them away.”

“If we do, it won’t be because of our words, but your actions,” Ying muttered, storming past.

Echo sat in his locker, wondering if there was something else he could’ve said to (y/n) before leaving. It’s not like he wasn’t a jerk. He knew that pretty well. But oh, if only he could go back and just try a little harder.

Turns out that being distracted while in a simulation would make everything much harder. That’s what he learned when he missed his blasts from his drones, and promptly let defuser get planted. Then, he stared at the back of Thatcher’s head for what felt like an eternity which resulted in him getting picked off by said man before even realizing it was a human he was looking at. The rest of his simulations went well, especially after he got completely eviscerated by Valkyrie when he failed to watch her back.

“You’re right. They are a nice person.” Ying told him as she walked by his locker. “Pity they think you’ll change for them.”

“I’ll try,” he responded, unable to hide his relief.

(y/n) was actually still talking to Hibana in the spectator room.

“Yeah, when you put it like that, that makes a lot more sense,” (y/n) nodded, watching the last simulation of the day. “There’s a lot more that goes into this than just angles, huh?”

“You’d be right.”

“(y/n)?” They whirled around to look at Echo slouched against the doorframe.

“Oh, hey! Hibana was talking me through all these situations. She said you did pretty well?”

He shrugged, stepping in and looking over the last simulation again. “Yeah. It was ok. Are you enjoying yourself?”

Their lips twitched. “I mean, it’s cool when you guys are training against each other, but I know the actual thing won’t be this… interesting I guess.”

“Would you like to come with me to see what I was planning to give you?” Their eyes perked up, and Hibana gave him a withering glare. He forced himself to stay staring at (y/n).

“Of course. Thanks again, Hibana,” the operator just gave them a soft smile while managing to shoot one last look at Echo.

.

“So, this allows me to drive it?”

Echo watched as his Yokai drove in circles around the living room couch. (y/n) was intently staring at their phone as if controlling Yokai took all of their concentration.

“Yes.”

“And this-” they pressed a button and Yokai attached to the ceiling “-makes it camouflage up there.”

“You’re correct.”

“So-“ oh he got a bad feeling “-what does this button do?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Echo saw them push the button for the ultrasonic blast. “Wait! Don’t-”

He had been watching from his own phone, which was how he knew that they were aiming at him, and the moment they tapped the screen, he swore and staggered around like he was drunk. Ultimately, he tripped over his own bag and collapsed on the floor. This was new. It explained why the attackers all cursed his name when he used it too. When he opened his eyes, (y/n) was frantically shaking his shoulder.

“Ohmygod I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, and I-”

“In all my years of training, not once have I ever gotten knocked down by my own blast.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine… Just… never do that again.”


	5. Breakup

_“Masaru?” Their face poked into his office. Well, not an office exactly. It was a storage closet that they had yet to put to use._

_“Yes?” He looked up and over his shoulder in time to meet their lips for a quick kiss._

_“Aren’t you coming to bed? It’s past midnight.”_

_“Sorry, not for a while longer.”_

_“Ok, well don’t forget that I’m taking you out for dinner sometime next week when I finish with my reports.”_

_“How can I forget when you’re the one offering?” They smiled against his soft shirt, knowing that he could feel the curve of their lips as they giggled._

_This was a dream. It had to be._

_Because he never had he met someone who could take his attention away from Yokai so easily. The way their eyes flashed every time they had had an idea, it was enamouring. He wanted to know what they were thinking. He couldn’t help but want more._

_But this was how his evening could play out._

_He could kiss them away and apologize for taking so long._

_Or he could put his ‘efficiency’ to good use and drag them onto his lap. They had a sharp mind, and learned quickly from just watching and following. Recently, they had proven their ability and willingness to learn about robotics and engineering, and it was delightful to watch them just… understand. Maybe while they tinkered and tried their hand at repairing Yokai, he could tease them. It would eventually lead them to bed, which admittedly_ did _sound enticing…_

_He eventually put them to bed and refocused on his work, but woke up as they were dragging his limp body to bed. There, he relaxed, facing away from them, and enjoying the patterns they were tracing on his back. Simple circuits. They were learning fast._

.

That’s what played in his head throughout the mission debrief. He had, in fact, forgotten to mention that he was getting sent on a mission the following afternoon. Here he was, a week and a half later, and already assigned his next mission. There had been a number of threats being made, and operators were always on the move.

.

“(y/n)?” He called out. Nothing. He had, despite what they might’ve thought, been keeping an eye on them throughout his mission through his Yokai. The barrage of texts and missed calls didn’t make him feel any better though.

He let his footsteps sound loud enough not to startled them, wherever they were. Turns out they were in the living room, half asleep on the couch with some cop show playing while they struggled to stay awake. Echo leaned over to touch them, but froze as they squirmed away.

“What’s wrong?”

They blinked up at him, scowling once the surprise had faded. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you went missing for like two and a half months without a single phone call or text.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t use my phone for anything other than work related issues while on missions. You know this.”

“Bullshit. I called Hibana because I was so worried, and she said that you were getting deployed a lot. She also told me how you guys normally get at least 2 hours warning. You couldn’t even send a text?”

He rolled his eyes. This was just like the times he forgot to take out the trash again or something. Simply put, he was too tired to fight. “I... it slipped my mind. I’m sorry.”

“No, you aren’t. You don’t have to lie.”

“Well, I see this as something I should be able to do without having you watching my every move. My job is busy, and I can’t change it. You’re not my mother, just my partner.”

The moment he said it, he wanted to reach out and snatch the words back.

“I-I didn’t-“

“I can’t take this anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what they talked to me about?” (y/n) was now on their back, glaring up at him. “Ying and Hibana. You kept bugging me to tell you what they said about you, and I know you thought they were talking shit about you, but I kept trying to calm you down. They didn’t want me to repeat their words, sure, but couldn’t you have trusted me?”

“So, what did they say?”

Their scowl deepened, and they looked back at the screen. “If you want to know that badly, they told me that you were an alright guy. Someone who doesn’t know how to treat someone well, but would try if you really cared. They said you were more interested in robotics than other humans, but that you would try if you really wanted something, or in my case, someone.”

“Wait, I’m the one at fault? It’s not like I’m cheating on you with Yokai-”

“When you care more for that machine than anyone else, it kind of feels like it.”

“I’ve always cared about you. You can’t just brush that off!”

“Are you for real?” They snapped up, bringing their face closer to his. “I always loved more, gave more, and asked for less! God, I wish I meant more to you. Tell me. Am I even worth one of your robots? Am I?”

“Well-“

“For fucks... Do you know how many nights I’ve spent lying alone in bed just wondering why I’m even trying with you? I could tell right when we met that you were a jerk, and yet I couldn’t help it.”

“Then why did you want me?”

They rolled their eyes. “Fucking hell, I can’t decide between thinking about you or wondering if I’m wasting my time.”

“Technically, if you think I’m a waste of time, you’re still thinking of me.” His voice was failing, and it cracked a little at the end. It didn’t stop them from clenching their hands into fists. The ferocity in their eyes had him backing off. He had looked into the eyes of terrorist and yet this was the most fear he has ever felt.

This time, when they opened their mouth, it was twisted into a snarl, though the words were still strangely even. “I was so scared. And now I know I shouldn’t have been.”

“Scared of me? Or for me?”

“Both. You were never home, you never seem to want to spend time with me – hell, you spend your free time _at home_ with your robot! I get that our honeymoon phase ended maybe half a year in, but one year after that, and you’ve lost all interest! What was I supposed to think?”

“Wait, did you love me?”

Their scoff was sharp enough to make him flinch. “I didn’t want to. Because you gave all the wrong signals that told me to walk away after our first time, and yet you just… smiled, and I fucking blew it.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

“Which part?”

He swallowed, unable to look up from the floorboards. “That you loved me.”

They were slowly rising out of their seat when he said that, and like magic, they plopped back down on the couch, glaring at him. “Like you would’ve returned it. Just tell me that you used me for sex. If you asked me out because you felt guilty, I won’t mind anymore cause I’m over it. I’m over you.”

“I love you too. I really do. Probably before you actually. I just… I didn’t know how to say it.”

“You don’t have the initiative or motivation for a relationship then. If you actually cared, then you would’ve tried, like the two girls said. So, now that I know it was something else, and to be honest, I don’t think you can change it, I want to end things between us.”

And there it was. “Is there anything I can do to make you change your mind?”

“No.” They lied back down on the couch. “I’ve reached my limit, and I can’t deal with you anymore. I’m sorry, but I don’t want a relationship like this, and I don’t think you can change.”

.

“What do you want?” Hibana’s glare immediately softened upon looking at his face.

“I need to talk to you. Now.” She immediately put up her guard again. “Please.”

She pushed the door open slightly and moved out of the doorframe. “What happened?”

“What’s wrong with me?”

A snort told him she was trying to stifle a laugh. “Where to start? You’re rude and condescending. You scold and look down on people who don’t earn your respect quickly enough, and those who do it later will always be seen as inferior in your eyes. Do you know why you were never considered for a promotion back in Japan?”

Her eyes and words cut right through him. It was ruthless, blunt, and all that she wasn’t. It was what she learned from him, and he could see it now.

The silence was all she needed to know that she was finally being heard. “The moment your name was ever brought up, they would say you couldn’t take feedback, that you always thought yourself better than that. And even if you were right, did you have to go and turn everyone against each other, and more importantly, you?”

“They broke up with me.”

“Did you expect anything else?” Harsh, but true. He couldn't exactly dispute that.

“They said that you thought that I could be a good boyfriend. Why?” he ran a hand through his hair. “You hate me still, don’t you? I never said this properly, but I’m sorry. It was an in-the-moment decision that made me go hunt down my drones, and I honestly wouldn’t’ve forgiven myself if you got hurt because of me. I just wanted to save face though, and that’s why I said those things.”

She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and forced his eyes up to look at her. One moment passed. Two.

“I accept your apology. But why didn’t you say this to (y/n)?”

“I did. Too many times. And both of us were sick of it. But I just wanted to keep going, and they didn’t. What do I do?”

“Nothing. It’s too late.”

“Did Ying really endorse me?”

“Yes.” When she got a disbelieving look, she explained, “You were an idiot, but an idiot that tried to live up to her expectations. And she loved you for that. However, you could never lose your habits, and she grew tired of reminding you. And then one day she broke your drone.”

“Sounds familiar.” He muttered.

“Maybe next time then?”

“But why doesn’t this feel the same as when things ended between me and Ying? Or any other relationship.”

Hibana sighed, and pushed him towards his bed. “Go shower then sleep, you idiot. I’ll get Grace to help me move your stuff back from the Canadians.”

“Can you thank them for me?”

“Of course.”

.

An alarm he _certainly_ didn’t set woke him up.

“Echo, what-”

The screen was a dream. There was no actual way that-

“Echo turn that off!”

No. “Something’s wrong. (y/n) just used Yokai’s ultrasonic blast. I _told_ them not to unless… they must be in danger or something.” He practically leapt out of bed and pulled on street clothes.

“What are you gonna do?” Hibana was now also stumbling about, trying to get changed.

“Go check up on them. I don’t care if they broke up with me. Something’s wrong with that neighborhood, and the police won’t fucking deal with it.”

“I’ll go get Jack to drive us. You go find Grace and ask her to come along.”

.

The door to (y/n)’s apartment was already open, which made all operators immediately reach for their weapons. Grace quickly hacked into all phones in the apartment and let them ring. Echo pulled out his phone to check up on the Yokai. Sure enough, there were three men cornering (y/n).

“Remember, unless we learn that they’re terrorists, we treat them as civilians. Criminals, but civilians still,” Pulse checked in on everyone, eyes lingering on Echo who gave the nod after a small hesitation.

Grace nodded, and followed the group in. The closer they got to where (y/n) was, the more swearing they could hear, even over the consistent buzzing.

“Look, I don’t know what you want, but I guarantee you won’t find anything valuable here.”

“We ain’t here for money, ya get it? Our boss wants documents that only you have.”

“Documents? ...You work for Willis? I knew he was a fucking pig, but I didn’t think he’d stoop this low.”

“If ya know the boss, ya know why we need them, and that we won’t think twice about-”

“Hands up where I can see them,” Pulse announced their presence. Both he and Hibana pointed their pistols at them.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Hibana added, snarling at one of the men who abruptly stopped and raised his hands in surrender.

“(y/n), come here,” Echo waved. While his friends watched over the thugs, he held (y/n) close, ready to protect them. He didn’t miss how tense they were the entire time though.

“You can’t shoot. That’d be murder.”

“Well, a permit makes this legal,” Pulse kept his signature blank face. “Now, you have two options. Either you walk away, or we make this a bigger issue and we call the police… and an ambulance.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Gregory Jenson, Timothy Hill, and Jacob Fieldy?” Dokkaebi finally looked up from her device.

“How-”

“I see your employer has been sending you emails. You’re office workers? Interesting. Well, how would this look if the police caught wind of this? Or maybe that your boss is a fucking criminal?”

“Wait, we-”

One of the men charged forward, and quick as lightening, Echo blasted him with Yokai. The man stumbled and fell harmlessly at Pulse’s feet, clutching his head and rocking back and forth.

“Non-lethal,” was the only response he had when Pulse glanced at him.

“Alright, alright, we won’t bother them again, just… just don’t hurt us,” the other two pleaded.

Pulse looked at Echo again, this time for a decision to be made.

“Let them go,” (y/n) muttered.

“Get out.” Dokkaebi glared at all of them as they ran out the front door.

“Dokk?” Both Echo and Hibana looked at their friend.

She smirked. “Yup, I got everything down, and it’s been sent to the police anonymously.”

“Wow,” (y/n) struggled out of Echo’s hold, which he reluctantly let happen. “Thanks. All of you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Pulse said.

“Literally,” Hibana muttered, making them chuckle.

“My lips are sealed.”

Pulse walked out the door again, clapping Echo on the shoulder on his way past him. “I’ll be waiting in the car.” Dokk and Hibana followed him out.

Now they were alone, and Echo couldn’t look them in the eyes.

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I know I should give you space, but I saw the alarm, and I got worried that-”

“No, you saved my butt there. I should be thanking you.”

They stood there some more.

What was he trying to do? “I know you don’t want to… well, like, you don’t want to see me, but if I… well I just want to ask for-”

“I don’t want to get back with you, no. And there will be no second chance. I think it’s better if we move on. Here,” they released Yokai from the ceiling and handed it back to him. “I already packed your stuff too.”

“You’ve packed more than just mine,” he murmured, looking around the flat.

They sighed. “I signed a lease about a month ago. It’s a good place with better security. After tonight, I’m gonna just hand in my keys and stay in a motel until I can move in.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

“Maybe if I knew where you were when I signed it.”

His hands almost reached out to touch their face, but instead, he let them flop back by his sides. “I get it.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll take my stuff and go then.”

“Yeah. And I changed my number, by the way.”

“Ok.”

“Yeah.”


	6. Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh... yea I know I left this story alone. Tbh it was cause I didn't want to/know how to give Echo a happy ending, sooo...
> 
> Either way, thanks for reading this through, and hope this ending feels satisfactory considering the wait :)

_“If two people are really meant for each other, they’ll find a way. No matter what.”_

That’s what Hibana told him in the days following the incident.

Now, it was popping up in his head as he walked into _that_ bar. Another pub crawl, another eager Echo, desperate to forget. But forget was not going to happen. Because he should’ve recognized the name of the pub, the lighting, and the pool tables.

“Time for a rematch,” Bandit muttered, and split off with an eager Smoke on his heels.

Ying just so happened to be beside him and whispered, “We can leave if you want.”

He followed the hand on his arm to the farthest stall from the pool tables. Eventually, Ying managed to get Dokkaebi to join them as well.

“Should we leave early?” Ying offered.

Dokkaebi shook her head, still sipping on the straw in her drink. “They for sure saw us enter, so if Echo leaves by himself, it’s like admitting that he isn’t over them.”

“That’s the point, isn’t it? He isn’t.”

“No, if you do that, they automatically assume they’re better off without him. If he wants them back-”

Ying whipped around to glare at Echo. “Why do you want them back?”

“-then he has to act like he doesn’t need them.”

“You can’t agree with him, Grace,” Ying pleaded. Dokkaebi only shrugged.

“In my defense,” Echo sipped on his drink, “I wasn’t the one who wanted to break up.”

“That…” Ying looked like her brain was malfunctioning from the way she eyelids fluttered. “What?” she finally stared at him.

“What’s wrong with that?” Echo asked.

Even Dokkaebi winced. Ying puffed up her chest like an angry little bird and looked like she was about to start something. It didn’t help that her cheeks were tinted red. Whether it was from the drinks or what he said, he didn’t know.

“That’s irresponsible, and borderline creepy!”

“How?”

Dokkaebi crumpled her tissue paper and tossed it at him. “They said what they wanted, and you should respect that. They aren’t a prize to be won, but a person with their own boundaries.”

“Fine then, but you never said anything about not playing against them,” he stumbled away from the table before Ying could yank him back. Her hands grasped empty air.

“Again?” Smoke cursed their name.

(y/n) sat on a stool with a content smile. “Want me to teach you?”

Smoke flipped them off, slapped down a fiver, and stormed off towards the bar.

“Can I have a match?” Echo asked, using the false, alcohol-fueled confidence to his request. They gave him a strange look and nodded.

“Sure.”

Echo was allowed to go first, and as predicted, it didn’t go well. The white ball barely shifted any of the others, prompting a few raised eyebrows from the onlookers. (y/n) studied the table for a moment before lining up and taking the shot. Two. Two solids fell into holes, and a wide grin showed itself on their face.

It continued like that for the next three turns. (y/n) would stand there, like the had been frozen, then they would swiftly line up a shot and sink yet another ball. Then it happened. Echo’s phone went off, and an all too familiar ringtone sounded. They flinched, and instead of hitting the ball next to it, they hit the black ball into the hole. Stunned, they stood there for a moment, mouth open, and brows furrowed.

“I just…” they gave their head a shake. “Well, shit.”

“Does… Does that count?”

They nodded, rubbing their temples.

“Alright, we didn’t agree on a bet, but do you want me to buy you your next drink?”

“You know I don’t normally drink.”

They raised an eyebrow, clearly sensing the two shots he took prior to even entering this bar. “Ok… So, what would you like?”

“Five minutes of your time to talk… in private.” He nervously glanced at the keen gazes of the onlookers.

“…That’s all?” They smiled like it was the most normal request ever, but…

“Well, I mean that-”

“Let’s go. I’ve more matches and drinks to win.” They pulled him out towards the door.

Once in the cold air, there was a clear wall that separated them. Echo lost all bravado he just had, and they stared him down a with a cold gaze.

“What is there to talk about?”

Echo’s mouth fell open. “I- I want one chance. To actually change myself. I know I didn’t pay enough attention, I assumed things that were unfair to you, and I asked for too much without giving back.” Was he too late? Probably… but it wasn’t slowing him down.

They rolled their eyes. Just they were about to respond, Echo interrupted again. “Let’s play a game.” That got their attention. They relaxed slightly, leaning onto the door they came from.

“I will… I will…” he was faltering now. The initial idea was fine… he just didn’t know what to say next.

“I’m already halfway to drunk, so here’s my deal.” With a smile, they crossed the small space to where he was waiting. “Every drink I win from here on out get downed by you. If you can still stand by the end, we fuck tonight. No strings attached. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“…Sure.”

.

Echo didn’t know if he wanted to win or not. On one hand, they would technically _be_ together. However, He didn’t want a one-time deal. He… he _wanted_.

He still drank everything that came his way though. Three pints of beer later, and (y/n) still seemed to be going strong. Meanwhile, he could barely keep his eyes open, let alone stand. _And he hated beer._ He winced after every glass he chugged, and frowned whenever the bartender poured him a new one.

“Alright.” After another victory, (y/n) finally put their pool cue away and motioned for Echo to stand.

Out of sheer willpower, he stood straight and looked at them standing there with their head tilted. If he fell now, it’d be game over.

“Can you walk?”

He nodded, and squeezed his eyes shut. Even these dim lights were starting to bother him. Still, the warm hand in his was a strong enough incentive to keep going. He vaguely remembered being led through a hotel lobby and then up elevators.

When he entered the unfamiliar room, he immediately collapsed on the bed.

.

The next morning, he woke up to loud chattering. But it wasn’t Yumiko who was talking.

“No, I’m telling you that he’s _insane_. Watch yourself, Carlisle.”

“(y/n)?” They nodded at him, but didn’t say anything.

“If he’s signed the deal, then _you need to get out. Leave them._ I’ll come get you… No, that’s impossible, I’ve been laying low, I’ve _moved_. Why do they still want me? …Ok, I’ll stay safe. You should too. We both know what those mask freaks are like.” There was some more frantic nodding, then they hung up and tossed the phone onto the bed.

“Good afternoon…” They finally addressed him, sitting at the end of the bed. “How’s your head? I hope the water was enough to help.”

Echo shot up, wincing at the stinging in his head. (y/n) chuckled at him as he leaned back in his bed again. “Afternoon?”

“Yup. We’ve overstayed here.”

“Today’s Saturday. What work do you have?”

“Moving again,” they smirked. “Come on, we need to go.”

“Wait—” he lazily reached out for their arm as they passed him— “Are you safe? Your phone call—”

They froze. “I would like to think that I am, but I need to go. You should too, for the better.”

“(y/n), I can help. What’s going on?”

“I know you said you’re military or whatever, so first, this is below your level, and, yeah, I lied about a couple things, but we _need to leave. Please._ ”

“I need to get back to base…”

“I’ll drive you, whatever. But we _need_ to go.”

Echo managed to stumble to his feet. They thrust a water bottle into his arms, and grabbed their bag. While they were normally smooth, and confident, all their motions now were jerky and unsure. It was giving Echo some doubts, but about what, he could only ask.

“You somehow passed a security check.” Echo finally spoke when they started driving away from the hotel.

“Yeah, cause the person I work for is an actual company… There’s just more that doesn’t get tracked.”

“So, you’re a criminal.”

“Not really… I work for one… and I don’t report him.”

Echo sent a text to Hibana. If he hadn’t returned to base by dinner, he was in trouble. The entire time though, he kept an eye on (y/n) to make sure that they didn’t see him using his phone.

“But you didn’t think you should tell me?”

“You’re still some sort of government, and I didn’t want to risk it. It _is_ how I’ve been affording everything, so I’m surprised you’ve never asked.”

“You didn’t trust me,” Echo accused them.

They quickly looked at him. “I loved you, but I never trusted you. I can’t in my kind of work.”

“I bet that finding out about my actual job put you off.”

There was a light in their eyes. “At first, but you’re gorgeous, and you were adorable, yet had some crazy mind that was so much… _more_ than what I expected. I wasn’t lying when I said that I love you.”

“Then why did you end it? And where are we going?”

They paused as if they were debating. But Echo knew how to get back to base, and this… this was the opposite direction. “I’m driving to a safehouse I have in the country. Belonged to my grandfather, but it’s been passed down to me.”

“You can’t just kidnap me,” Echo murmured. “You’ll get in worse trouble.”

They pulled over. Almost out of habit, his hand rested over his pistol. “I can give them coordinates where they can pick you up. But _I’m_ in trouble. If stay in the city for much longer, they’re gonna find me, and now that you’ve spent the night with me, they’re gonna look for you too.”

“Who? Who’s gonna find you?”

They started driving again, just a little faster than before. “I don’t have a name. I just know that they have these white masks. The same ones as the attack on Bartle—”

“ _You worked for the White_ _Masks?_ ” Echo couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you serious? Why would you even come near me?”

“I didn’t work for them!” They cut him off. “They’re forcing all us illegal operations to turn a profit for them. A lot of us draw a line between stealing from rich businessmen, and killing innocents. So now we’re trying to escape. Echo, you don’t understand. If they catch me…”

“I understand.” The texts were sent. The tracker light on his phone was on. It was only a matter of time now. “You should’ve told me earlier.”

“You weren’t supposed to see me again, and I wasn’t supposed to cave into your ask.”

.

Now that they were in this remote farmhouse, he felt more on edge than before. And it was all too familiar still. Echo still remembers how they liked to pace as they talked on their phone, though the context had changed wildly in his mind. “No, I haven’t seen them. I haven’t called him either – what do you mean? He can’t be… He was supposed to be hidden. Who’s giving us away?” They shook their head and tossed the phone onto a table.

“(y/n).” Echo saw the text on his phone. His stomach clenched when their tired eyes fell on him. “Come here, please.”

And they obeyed. That made it so much worse. Because even though they said that they didn’t trust him, these little actions always said so much more.

“What’s wrong?” they leaned up on him, hands on his chest, and eyes looking into his with nothing but concern. This was really going to happen, huh?

He leaned down to catch their lips. Immediately, they melted into it, fully leaning into him and letting him lift them up onto the kitchen counter. And that’s when it happened.

A little buzz sounded, and all lights went out. Echo drew his handgun, and shoved the barrel into their chest. “I’m sorry.”

“What—”

Half a dozen flashlights and footsteps stormed the house, and surrounded them.

“Hands up! On your knees now!” Echo backed off to let IQ walk up and cuff them.

From their eyes, Echo very clearly saw the cracks in their trust in him. They were always a great liar, he supposed. And also, a criminal. But every time they winced at the cuffs, flinched at the loud voices, or even leaned away from his teammates, his heart ached a little more.

The next time he had the chance to talk to them, they were tied to a chair, looking at a blank wall. Pulse had just walked up next to him.

“They aren’t in trouble.”

“I know. That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“They gave up good information. We can save their remaining friends, and put a stop in their plans.”

“I know. That’s why I called you all in. Greater good, right?”

Pulse sighed, and Echo frowned at the hand that rested on his shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I think you should try and see how your relationship is now. You might find that this is like a new start.”

“Thanks for the advice.” Pulse took that as a sign to leave.

.

Echo did visit them in the little jail cell that had been changed to look like something more. A disguise, really because (y/n) wasn’t technically a terrorist. Just an informant.

“Get out. I don’t want to see you.”

“I did the right thing,” he said anyways. “You’re safe now, and your friends stand a better chance of surviving. Whether or not you agree with me, I did the right thing. And I’m ok if you don’t believe that.”

.

They were released a week later, and of all operators, Echo was assigned to bring them to their new home. While he would love to see them again, he knew that it would be a long car ride. The longest, it would seem, as they didn’t say a word. Which was strange. Because he was now pulling into the drive way, and still, they hadn’t said a thing.

“I wish I never met you.” Yep. There it was. The start of another stand off, another— “But thank you for proving me otherwise.”

The shocked look on his face was enough to make them smile. “I was always too proud. Felt like I knew more than anyone else. But… Big fish in a small pond, right? Turns out I know jackshit.”

“You’ve done a good job. Considering even we didn’t even realize you were… shady.”

“So, it’s all over for me?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should come in. Help me move, yea?”

He knew it was an offer. But it was an offer he had, perhaps stupidly, been waiting to hear even since they ended everything. “Yes please.”

It was no surprise when he was pushed straight to the bed. However, when they climbed on top of him, he could only raise his brows. This wasn’t what he was expecting. Still, when they pulled out the bottle of lube and licked his mouth open, he couldn’t help but moan all the same. Undressing was always a blur. It had to be if he wanted a chance to stay coherent during the actual

When they started tonguing the slit while rubbing his prostate, that was when it was all over for him. His moans went unchecked, and he couldn’t even put together enough thoughts to feel embarrassed by how loud he was being. This wasn’t how it normally went. _He_ was supposed to be the one in control. _They_ were supposed to be the one moaning on the bed. But that’s not what the plan was.

The tonguing evolved into a slow slide of lips around his shaft, and his hands immediately latched onto their hair. They didn’t like that. (y/n) took everything out, and stared at his hopeless face, which definitely had drool leaking out at this point.

“No touching. You’ll get yours if you trust _me_.”

He nodded, too eager to get the stimulation back on his cock without properly understanding what he just promised. But when they added another finger, and took his entire length in their mouth, only then did he realize how hard this would be. The sudden start launched him to the edge, and oh, so close.

Close enough for them to realize.

Close enough for them to know when to pull away just as he was approaching his climax.

“Fuck.” He jerked his hips to find any sort of stimulation, but it was all gone. Only once he calmed down, did they give the head a test lick. The whimper that was wrenched from his lips said more than anything he could.

The attack on his senses started up again, except he knew what was coming. It just didn’t stop him from trembling with every suck, mewling at every movement against his prostate, or letting out a train of broken sentences in both English and Japanese, just to try and let them know how good he was feeling. The edge came a lot sooner than what he was expecting, yet somehow, (y/n) was still prepared, and lifted off him again.

“Please.”

“Not yet.”

He lifted his head to stare at them, realizing that they were smiling. They thought this was funny. As he watched, limbs too heavy to do anything but lie uselessly by his side, they used the tips of their finger nails to press against the head. He let out a sigh. This was getting to be too much. Even when their hands were off his cock, their fingers were still in him, poking at that _stupid_ spot.

He would like to say that he endured it all very well – that he demonstrated an excellent amount of self-control, worthy of a Rainbow op. He can’t though. Because when they started to suck him off again, he hadn’t calmed down fast enough, and ended up unloading into their mouth, both parties equally shocked.

It was the best feeling in the world though. Finally getting the release he had been chasing was mind blowing, no pun intended, and he couldn’t help the futile jerks of his hips when they continued to lap at the slit.

“Fuck, I thought you’d at least ask before trying something like that,” he complained. Well, not really. He couldn’t complain when he had just received one of the best orgasms of his life.

“You trust me though.”

“I… yeah…” He laid there, feeling a rough cloth clean him up. And while they took care of him, he couldn’t help but wonder. “Is this the last time I’ll see you?”

For every moment of silence, Echo could just feel his chances slipping away.

“Um. Is this the last time you want to see me?”

He shifted to his elbows. “Of course not.”

They finished tidying up the mostly empty room, and crawled back on top of him. “Then no. Come visit me often.” With that, they pressed their lips to his an ended up between him and the mattress, smiling up at him.

“I will.”

.

Two years later, and the visits still kept up. Echo was lying on his side, back facing (y/n) in hopes to not disturb them after returning late from a mission one day. But the moment his head hit his pillow – that’s right, he was there so often he had his own designated pillow – he could feel their arms get thrown around him.

“Nightmare?” He asked.

“I can’t for the life of me remember how to calculate amperage in a series circuit and it’s bothering me.” The words are slurred and mumbled, so it’s hard to tell if that is indeed what was asked.

“Why are you…” he turned slightly to see their closed eyes and lips, and… Yeah, they’re asleep. So, he turns back around and tries to sleep himself.

He’s kept up when fingers brush against his back. Maybe he read them wrong. This was something they liked to do sometimes now. They wrote on his back. Sometimes, it was math equations, sometimes they were practicing their Japanese, and today…

They kept writing the same letters over and over again. And he finally figured out what they were writing out.

“Are you sure?” He spun around so quickly that he nearly rolls over (y/n).

And while they look sleepy, they’re happy. “Of course. Marry me? It doesn’t have to be something big, maybe even just signing the piece of paper, but I just felt like it would mean something, you know?”

Maybe it was the exhaustion setting in fully now, or maybe it’s what he’s actually feeling, now free of sane thought, but he can’t think of anything else he would rather want.

“Yes. I love that idea – I love _you_.”

And the smile on their face makes up for how they then shove him off them, complaining that the must’ve gained weight again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can also find me on [tumblr](https://lacklusterswirl.tumblr.com/), where I post about my siege games, and occasionally, other stuff not on here. Currently looking for requests just to keep writing :)


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